


Brick by Brick

by Goonlalagoon



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Gen, and resultant ptsd/body horror/etc, mention of past canon trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 01:18:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11933319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goonlalagoon/pseuds/Goonlalagoon
Summary: Brick by brick, Kaz swore - Brick by brick he would destroy Rollins’ world as thoroughly as the Barrel Boss had destroyed the Rievtfield brothers’. He didn’t know it was Rollins he was deciding to tackle, shivering on the shore of the canal he had dragged himself out of, just that the only thing left was to make the man pay.





	Brick by Brick

Brick by brick, Kaz swore - Brick by brick he would destroy Rollins’ world as thoroughly as the Barrel Boss had destroyed the Rievtfield brothers’. He didn’t know it was Rollins he was deciding to tackle, shivering on the shore of the canal he had dragged himself out of, just that the only thing left was to make the man pay.

The first time he arranged for someone to steal away clients from the Emerald Palace, Kaz felt almost giddy with glee. Not that anyone would see it; Kaz was nothing if not controlled. It was his mantra - brick by brick he’d tear the man down.

Brick by brick, he’d build himself up, until there was a wall around him no one could breach.

Touch was the only fight Kaz allowed himself to lose, and he had no interest in emotional proximity. Caring for people got you hurt. Wanting to build a better life for your brother lost you everything. Loving your brother led to your death, your rebirth into someone cold except for the endless burning for revenge. Caring was the way Kaz’s throat caught just a little at mentions of drowning and plague (though you’d have to be a heartrender to know, and even then be concentrating hard), the way the brush of skin on skin was always his brother’s corpse cold beneath his hands.

He built a reputation for himself - Dirtyhands, the Bastard of the Barrel. Well, they didn’t know what those hands had touched, why they’d never be clean, and Brekker had been born from the Barrel alright - its malice, its cruel reality, its freezing waters. The Dregs muttered to themselves about boys who thought they were so above it all, though not often, and not when they thought he could hear.

He heard everything, sooner or later. Kaz couldn’t bring himself to bond, or to pretend he cared about anything other than how they helped him achieve his goals, so he invested in people who would do it for him. Jesper was useful, there. The boy was good at making Kaz’s victories into everyone’s, reminding them that though Brekker wasn’t patting shoulders and trading jokes he was always pushing the Dregs forwards.

Brick by brick was how he’d break Rollins down, and brick by brick he built himself up - black gloves and crow skull cane, a list of monstrosities that sometimes did Dirtyhands’ dirty work for him, cold logic and dispassionate valuation, an unbreachable wall around him.

But then, he realised too late, he’d always said the Wraith could get into any fortress.


End file.
